Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Privacy Act 2020

Privacy Commissioner - Functions of Privacy Commissioner

20: Duty to act independently

You could also call this:

“Privacy Commissioner must work independently when making decisions”

You have a special person called the Privacy Commissioner. This Commissioner has an important job to do, and they need to do it without anyone telling them what to do.

When the Commissioner is doing their work under this law or any other law that talks about what they should do, they must make their own choices. They can’t let anyone else decide for them.

This means the Commissioner has to think for themselves and do what they believe is right, based on the rules they’re given. They can’t let other people or groups push them around or tell them how to do their job.

Remember, this rule doesn’t apply when the Commissioner is working under a law called the Crown Entities Act 2004. For that law, there might be different rules about how the Commissioner should work.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS23332.

Topics:
Rights and equality > Privacy
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“Minister must share Privacy Act report with Parliament”

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21: Commissioner to have regard to certain matters, or

“Commissioner must balance privacy with other important factors when making decisions”

Part 2 Privacy Commissioner
Functions of Privacy Commissioner

20Duty to act independently

  1. The Commissioner must act independently in performing statutory functions and duties, and exercising statutory powers, under—

  2. this Act; and
    1. any other Act that expressly provides for the functions, powers, or duties of the Commissioner (other than the Crown Entities Act 2004).

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